Slow growth in France, however, has raised the burden on the country’s generous welfare system. The upshot? Spending cuts are difficult and many local authorities will raise taxes next year to finance their needs.

France’s “departments”–local governments responsible for paying some welfare payments–underscore the point. As unemployment has risen following the euro-zone debt crisis and ensuing economic slowdown, a growing number of people have become dependent on France’s minimum subsistence grant, the RSA.

The cost of the RSA is expected to reach €8.74 billion ($11.82 billion) in 2013, a 46% increase from 2008 when unemployment was as low as 7.5%, according to figures from the assembly of France’s departments, the ADF. The latest figures show unemployment in France has reached a 15-year high of 10.9%.

French President Frano0069s Hollande, seen here in a news conference in Slovenia on July 25.

For his summer holidays this year, French President François Hollande appears to be drawing inspiration from Eleanor Roosevelt, who famously said: “It’s not more vacation we need – it’s more vocation.”

While many of his ministers are taking a couple of weeks off – along with millions of French people over the summer–Mr. Hollande traveled to Roche-sur-Yon in the west of France on Tuesday to toil away at what he has made his primary vocation: tackling the growing mass of unemployed.

“If we are here, it is for the long-term unemployed like you,” said Mr. Hollande in front of television cameras when accosted by a woman who has been out of work for 18 months.

France has escaped the depths of recession seen in countries such as Italy and Spain, but the number of unemployed people reached over 3.27 million in June, 11.2% higher than a year ago, just after Mr. Hollande was elected. France’s jobless woes have weighed heavily on the president’s approval ratings.

His higher profile during France’s traditional peak holiday season underscores an effort to show he is very much at the driver’s seat in trying to turn around the moribund French economy.

A man carries a shopping bag in the colors of the German national flag in Hanover, Germany.

The gap between individual consumption in Germany and those euro-zone countries pursuing austerity programs and undergoing economic contractions continued to widen last year, according to figures from the European Union’s official statistics agency Wednesday.

Within the currency area, individuals in Greece, Portugal and Italy suffered relative declines in consumption of goods and services in 2012, while their counterparts in Germany, Austria and Finland saw their relative consumption increase, the data from Eurostat showed.

The figures present a measure of how much real austerity citizens of the various EU nations had suffered up until the end of 2012, with governments in those nations that saw relative consumption falling most sharply having cut spending and hiked taxes more dramatically than others.

A woman counts her Latvian lats at a currency-exchange office in Riga on Wednesday.

One reason Latvians remain skeptical of adopting the euro–a poll ordered by the finance ministry showed only 38 % supported the euro in May–is that there have been many currency changes in Latvia in living memory, mostly against a backdrop of war, revolution, foreign occupations and drastic socioeconomic change.

The first time lats–the currency Latvia is giving up–were circulated was in 1922, at the end of war for independence fought after the republic of Latvia was proclaimed on Nov. 18, 1918. Before then, a motley collection of currencies circulated as mediums of exchange. There were Czarist rubles and rubles of subsequent Russian governments; the scrip, during German occupation in World War I; local currencies issued by cities and towns; and a temporary Latvian ruble.

Activists plan large demonstrations, sit-ins and other acts of civil disobedience aimed at disrupting the proper functioning of institutions that determined plans to rescue troubled banks and debt-ridden countries such as Greece, Spain, Portugal and Ireland.

In Frankfurt, the main target is the European Central Bank. Protesters are also gathering in Lisbon, where the “Que Se Lixe a Troika” will protest outside the International Monetary Fund’s national headquarters, and in Madrid, where “Mareas Ciudadanas” will demonstrate in front of the national European Commission complex. Altogether, protests are planned in 70 cities in 10 European countries.

Blockupy protesters say those three institutions–known as the troika–imposed austere, belt-tightening measures on Europeans while spending billions to bail out banks at the expense of ordinary people. Demonstrators say their goal is to “defend the democratic and social rights of Europe’s employed, precarious workers and unemployed.”

School students march in front of the Greek parliament building during a parade on March 24.

A year ago, threats to the Greek parliament came from angry demonstrators tossing firebombs at the ornate yellow building. Now, police are stepping up security inside, amid fear politicians themselves are arriving armed.

In the past week, the police that guard the building began routing the 300 legislators through a newly installed metal detector at its north side. They have also tightened access for other visitors to ensure they pass through the machines that in the past were sometimes loosely monitored.

“It is the biggest increase in security we have seen since the violent demonstrations which took place outside,” a parliament official told The Wall Street Journal. “This time the threat is coming from the inside.”

The European Central Bank often attracts criticism for its handling of the euro-zone crisis: some economists want the central bank to be more supportive, acting like other central banks to spur growth and foster job creation in the currency bloc.

Managing the crisis is an art, as much as a science.

Now there is a graffiti street art project commenting on the crisis, and other themes, taking place outside the construction zone of the new ECB headquarters in Frankfurt, of which the central bank has provided around €10,000 ($13,153) in support. The ECB confirmed the figure and said the graffiti wall is one of about 30 community projects it has supported since 2002 in the framework of the construction work.

Local street artists approached the ECB about using the security fence as a kind of canvas when building began a few years ago. The ECB agreed and since 2012 has been a supporting partner of the project titled “Under Art Construction.” The art project’s coordinators invite professional and amateur street artists to spraypaint new images every few months.

“There was a very strong prevailing consensus towards an interest rate cut, and within that, there was a prevailing consensus for a cut of only 25 basis points.” – Mario Draghi, on the ECB governing council’s decision to cut the Main Refinancing Rate to a record low of 0.50% Thursday.

Other central banks publish minutes that show how this or that official exercised the power vested in him or her by the public. Not so the European Central Bank.

Still, Mr. Draghi seems to have said there was a three-way split yesterday between those who wanted to cut the refinancing rate by 25 basis points, those who wanted 50 basis points, and those who wanted no change. And given the fact that it cropped up in discussions again, it would seem reasonable to assume that there is also a minority on the council in favor of cutting the deposit rate below zero.

If you’re a betting man, then you have probably tipped Thursday as the day when the ECB cuts rates.

After a series of data points in April indicated economic weakness and low inflation across the euro zone, including Germany, most are convinced the ECB will take action this week. More than half of the 47 banks surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expect the central bank to cut its main refinancing rate to 0.50% when the Council on Thursday.

But Carsten Brzeski isn’t totally convinced. The senior economist with ING Bank in Brussels says it’s an “open secret” that the ECB itself considers a rate cut to be ineffective and mainly symbolic, because the central bank’s monetary policy is not reaching the euro area equally.